He’s the Giants’ overlooked man in the middle, flanked in the receivers room by two mega-personalities — Odell Beckham Jr., who’s a rock star, and veteran Brandon Marshall, who never has been accused of being a wallflower.

That, however, doesn’t mean Shepard can’t emerge as even more of an impact player than he was as a rookie in 2016, when he delivered bang for his second-round buck. He caught 65 passes for 683 yards and eight touchdowns while playing 95 percent of the offensive snaps.

Only Michael Thomas from the Saints, with 92 catches for 1,137 yards and nine touchdowns, was more productive among rookie receivers. And, for as great as Beckham was last season, catching 101 passes, he caught only two more touchdown passes than Shepard, who proved to be an unexpected godsend for Manning in the red zone.

“I knew I was going to be able to contribute,’’ Shepard said Thursday. “They don’t draft you in the second round if they don’t think you can [make] an immediate impact. So I knew I was going to get that shot and I knew I was going to seize it. I didn’t know exactly what numbers I was going to put up, but I knew I was going to put something up.’’

So he did.

Now the question is this: As part of an even more talented and experienced Giants receiving corps, how much better can Shepard be from his rookie season?

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Beckham, who can leap tall buildings in a single bound, is a superstar and will keep elevating his game as long as he keeps his head into it.

Marshall, with his size, savvy and experience, can be unstoppable in the red zone. He is, after all, 59 receptions short of 1,000 for his career and has caught 82 touchdowns in his 11 NFL seasons.

That leaves the middle of the field as Shepard’s domain from his slot position.

Add to the equation the addition of pass-catching rookie tight end Evan Engram and the Giants are rather excited about the possibilities for Manning.

“I guess you can say pick your poison,’’ Shepard said.

As this all pertains to Shepard, you can’t help but think he’s going to have more opportunities to make big plays this season with the presence of Beckham and Marshall on either side of him.

“That’s kind of a good thing, being under the radar,’’ Shepard said. “Don’t pay attention to me on game day. I’d love it. Those guys [Beckham and Marshall] are going to demand attention by the defense, so that gives me an opportunity to get a lot of one-on-one coverage.’’

With the addition of Marshall and Engram, it’s unlikely Shepard will get as many targets in 2017 as the 105 he got in 2016 (which was second on the team to Beckham 169).

But that won’t matter if Shepard improves on his big-play ability. His longest reception last season was 32 yards and he averaged only 10.5 yards per catch. Those are numbers he’s concentrating on increasing. It’s possible for Shepard to catch fewer passes this season and be a better, more impactful player.

Sterling Shepard had eight touchdown catches as a rookie. (AP)AP

Shepard has harped on his pedestrian yards-after-catch (YAC) last season, which was only 3.9 yards per reception (Beckham averaged 5.1). He said he watched film from last season and noticed that he didn’t shift the ball to his proper hand after catches, which prevented him from stiff-arming defenders and freeing himself up for more yards.

“I feel like I could have done a lot better with that,’’ he said.

“He is a weapon in the slot, he’s a smart young player, he works at it,” Giants coach Ben McAdoo said.

“Shep was a young guy that came in and was eager to learn and eager to show that he belonged, and he did that quickly — by making plays and being extremely attentive and showing he was passionate about the game,’’ receiver Tavarres King said. “So you got that right off the bat. He’s very confident. He believes in himself and believes in his abilities and the things he does — and he executes it.

“He came in polished, but he’s gotten so much better. He makes the tough catches and is good at catching the ball in traffic. He’s got a lot of tools. He’s a special kid who’s ahead of his years.’’